I REMEMBER JANIE
We had been married less than a year. My husband was just out of the U. S. Navy and attending the University of Texas at Arlington. I was working for C. P. Waggoner Sales Company in Grand Prairie across the street from Chance-Vought. As the saying was at the time, I was earning my P.H.T. – “Putting Hubby Through”. It was something many young women were doing. Our income consisted of my salary (I think it was around $600 a month) plus the $250 a month my husband received as a veteran attending college. Once, after paying our bills, we had $.78 (cents, not dollars) in our checking account. With the next payday two weeks away, and not wanting to ask our parents for help, I took an inventory of our larder: 1 package of frozen chicken wings, one pound of cheap hotdogs ($1.00/pound), and a few canned goods. I made a big pot of chicken soup (freezing part of it). That, along with the canned vegetables, saw us through ‘til the next payday.
The following year, I was given a raise in pay, and my husband was able to find part-time work on campus. By going to school year-round, he graduated in three years and went on to accept a job at Republic National Bank in Dallas. At that point, we decided we could afford to hire someone to help me with the housekeeping.
I don’t remember how we found Janie or how she found us. She lived in Grand Prairie and, because she didn’t have a car, caught a ride with someone who worked in Ft. Worth just west of Arlington. In order for the driver to get to work on time, he dropped Janie off at our house at 6 o’clock on the mornings she worked for us and picked her up at 6 o’clock in the evening.
Our arrangement was that I paid her $1.00 per hour plus lunch (she was welcome to any of the food in the refrigerator or pantry) for a three-hour workday. It wasn’t long before I received a phone call from another woman Janie was working for. The woman was upset because Janie had told her I was paying $1.00 per hour. It seems she was paying Janie $.50 per hour. I told her I wouldn’t pay Janie less. I didn’t hear from her again.
I could give a list of Janie’s attributes, but suffice it to say, she was a jewel. Janie and I corresponded for a number of years after my husband and I moved to Florida.
I’m sure you’re thinking, “Why is she telling us this?”
Because Janie was Hispanic.
She told me she was from an area called “The Valley” in southwest Texas. It never occurred to me to ask whether or not she was a citizen, or had a green card, or anything else of the sort. I don’t know what, if anything, was required at that time. All I know is that she was an honest, hard-working person.
I’m glad we have laws that were passed by Congress that are meant to help protect us from undesirable aliens. But let’s not forget, we are all descendants of immigrants.
Until we meet again,
Mary Nolan Brown